Clearing the paths to civic participation

Trust is built when people come together to listen, find common ground, build bridges across differences and practice democratic ways of solving problems. The University of Washington has a strong track record of establishing such settings and solving problems across differences. We maintain respectful, collaborative relationship with our state and local governments as well as long-standing partnerships with community and social service organizations throughout Washington and beyond.

Now is the time to apply our resources and our public-serving role to ensuring that everyone—not just those at the UW—can participate in democratic decision-making. We propose launching Democracy Test Kitchens: nonpartisan, accessible spaces where community-based organizations, civic groups, elected officials, public agencies, students, faculty and others can access the tools they need to participate in developing solutions to their communities’ needs. By creating spaces for brave conversations and creative problem-solving, we will help people across Washington and beyond build trust, mutual respect and shared experience in solving pressing challenges together.

Impact in action

The University of Washington has a number of current programs that are expanding opportunities for participation in community-based decision-making and problem-solving. These programs include, but are not limited to, the following: